In the past three games Colorado Springs Sky Sox’ pitching towered over the Chihuahuas hitting; however, in the top of the 4th inning with two outs it was the hitting that gave the Spring Sky Sox the 10-4 victory over the home team. After Matt Dominguez hit an RBI single to left field, three consecutive runs were scored by the Spring Sky Sox’.
Offensively, the Chihuahuas recorded mere 4 hits, compared to the 14 hits by the Spring Sky Sox. During the last three games, the Chihuahuas have been held to four runs.
With the loss, the Chihuahuas sit at 2 games behind the Las Vegas 51s with only 14 more games left in the season (5 more at home). Prior to losing three consecutive games in their homestead against the Colorado Spring Sky Sox, the Chihuahuas went 9-1 in their last ten games.
“We didn’t play well, that’s stating the obvious,” Chihuahuas manager Jamie Quirk. “Three straight games where we haven’t hit at all and we have to find a way to score one more run than them tomorrow. That’s the most important game.”
On the pitching side, Hiram Burgos of the Colorado squad went 6 innings without allowing a hit. Burgos was credited with the win (3-3), while Case Kelly of the Chihuahuas finished with his first loss of the Triple-A squad.
“They’ve pitched good, but we got behind early and had to play catch-up,” Quirk said. “That’s added pressure on our offense. It’s a combination of their guy – who has had good numbers, and they’ve pitched well. But, we have to find a way to counter that. We have good hitters and have to find a way to get past the pitching.”
Relief pitcher Tayron Guerrero allowed two runs – a RBI single by Robinzon Diaz in the 5th inning and a RBI single by Juan Centeno in the 6th.
After 6 scoreless innings trailing 7-0, the Chihuahuas shed some light on their scoreboard. After Alex Dickerson singled to left field, which would extend his game-hitting streak to 11, Outfielder Jake Goebbert hit an RBI double to center field. Then with the sacrifice ground ball, Short Stop Hector Gomez drove in Goebbert, reliving the score by five.
However, Rymer Liriano would send a pop out to the shortstop to end the inning, and the Chihuahuas wouldn’t see another run until the top of the ninth with Gomez hitting a solo home run.
“Our offense has not shown up in the last three days,” Quirk said. “You don’t like to see a whole team go into slumps and that’s what we’ve done in the past three games. Nobody has hit. Maybe the last inning or two might spark us but sometimes you get two or three guys in the lineup not hitting. Right now we have a bunch of people not hitting.”
The Chihuahuas will finish their four-game series against the Colorado Spring Sky Sox on Wed. August 27th. Next, the home team will face the Oklahoma City Dodgers (79-51), who rests atop at 1st place in the American Northern Division and has won 7 of its last 10 games.
“We’ll show up tomorrow and get our minds right,” Quirk said. “Its just a matter of showing up mentally prepared, and going out there and playing a baseball game. I feel good that we will do that. We’ll be ready. I still have confidence in our offense, we have guys up and down the order that have been able to hit the ball as evidence has shown throughout the whole year, until the last few days. And to score as little as we have is kind of unusual, but I have confidence. We’ll hit.”
Adrian Broaddus may be reached at [email protected].
